"And why's that?" I asked.
Steve glanced back at the door to his room.
"Because Fury isn't the type to introduce me to people without a reason. And his reasons have layers." He said simply.
Though he had been in the ice for seventy years, it seemed he was familiar with Fury's type.
"Well, I can't disagree with that."
He picked up his sketchbook and sat on his bed, nodding for me to sit on the chair at his desk.
"You're not gonna tell me much about yourself, are you?"
"Nope," I answered honestly as I sat down.
He let out an inaudible laugh as air left his nose, not at all offended.
"Fair enough. Fury's told me little about you either, for what it's worth."
"That sounds about right."
Silence settled as Steve tapped his foot, seemingly in thought. I had no intention of speaking first, deciding to simply see what he had to say.
"Can I ask you something?" He said after a moment.
"Go ahead."
"The strength. Not exactly standard issue."
"No."
"Super Soldier?"
"No."
He nodded slowly, accepting my one-word answers with grace.
"Not enhanced in the standard way. Well, whatever you're working with, it's significant." He said, more to himself than to me.
I said nothing, which he seemed to accept as confirmation.
"Fury really does collect interesting people," he said with a slight smile.
"You're one to talk."
He chuckled lightly at that.
"Fair point."
A silence settled, the only sound being the tapping of Steve's pencil against his sketchbook.
"You know what I've figured out about Fury?" He said after a moment.
"What?"
"He only gives you exactly as much information as he thinks you need."
"Sounds about right." I nodded.
"Which means, whatever he told you about me is minimal, and whatever he told me about you is also minimal."
"Also sounds about right."
"So we're basically starting from scratch."
"Basically, yeah."
He leaned back slightly, tilting his head to look at the ceiling above us.
"Alright then, wanna go a round?"
I looked at him in surprise for a moment, not at all expecting he would so blatantly ask for a fight.
"Ah, it's up to you. It's just that I haven't exactly had the chance to go against someone... in my own weight class." He explained himself upon seeing my surprise.
"Alright then, sounds fine with me." I agreed easily.
Steve had presented me with a perfect opportunity to induce fear in him. If things went my way, I wouldn't have to pull any tricks; just surprising him enough in the fight to make him slightly scared would do the job.
As soon as we got up to exit the room, Fury opened the door. The voyeur had undoubtedly listened to everything we had discussed.
"There's a training room down the hall," Fury said, not even trying to pretend he hadn't been eavesdropping.
Steve and I both glanced at each other, probably having the same thoughts regarding Fury's shamelessness.
We followed him down the corridor, stopping at a set of double doors.
He opened the doors, revealing a large training room, far bigger than the small bedroom we had just been in.
There was a full gym with a large rack of weights, several destroyed punching bags, and a boxing ring in the centre.
Fury leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"I'll observe."
The guy was probably geeking to get a better understanding of my abilities when matched against a proper opponent.
Of course, I had no intentions of going all out against the Captain. The man was a powerful super soldier, sure, but mere enhanced strength wouldn't be enough to challenge the small arsenal I had built up.
The question was how much to show.
The goal was to show enough strength to unsettle Steve, but not enough to give Fury a full idea of my abilities.
We climbed into the ring, standing on opposite ends whilst sizing each other up.
Steve remained relaxed, rolling his neck before settling into a clean stance.
I immediately activated my Sharingan, which, mixed with my innate martial talent from the Hanma template, allowed me to perfectly mirror his stance.
Since I wasn't wearing my contacts, my red eyes were fully visible, something which clearly confused Steve.
"That's new."
"Whenever you're ready." I maintained focus, not responding to him.
Even though I believed myself stronger than him, this could be considered my first true physical fight against a superhero. I had no cheat card like Haki against Frost; I had to beat Captain America the good-old-fashioned way.
Neither of us moved for a full three seconds.
He came first.
He was fast, but not so fast that I couldn't react. I slipped his first jab cleanly, but the follow-up came a fraction of a second later and caught me across the cheekbone before I was able to move.
I took a step back.
'What.'
The force behind it was obscene. He wasn't just plain strong; the punch he had thrown was dense, like being hit by a fist made of pure lead.
I reset my stance and looked at him properly as an opponent for the first time.
Steve looked at me with a slight smirk, not exactly arrogance, rather just the look of a man thinking that he 'still had it'.
"Okay, I'll admit, you hit pretty hard," I admitted his strength easily as my hand lightly massaged my jaw.
At the same time, my bones began to shift.
It seemed that I'd have to take this more seriously than I had initially expected.